{"id":246371,"date":"2026-05-05T13:39:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T11:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spotler.com\/blog\/the-inbox-has-changed-litmus-2026"},"modified":"2026-05-05T13:43:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T11:43:38","slug":"the-inbox-has-changed-litmus-2026","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/blog\/the-inbox-has-changed-litmus-2026","title":{"rendered":"The inbox has changed. Email Marketers are playing catch-up &#8211; our take on the Litmus 2026 report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The Litmus State of Email 2026 report makes one thing very clear. Email marketing has changed dramatically in just 12 months. AI is now shaping what gets seen, not just how emails are created.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>And while most teams are using AI to send more, fewer are thinking about what happens when AI is deciding what gets read. Expectations are rising faster than most email programs are evolving.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-rank-math-toc-block\" id=\"rank-math-toc\">\n<p><strong>Let&#8217;s\u00a0look at the key highlights from the report,\u00a0including\u00a0what stood out\u00a0to us.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<nav>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"\"><a href=\"#ai-is-now-controlling-the-inbox-not-just-helping-create-emails\">AI is now controlling the inbox, not just helping create emails\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"\"><a href=\"#ai-is-raising-expectations-but-exposing-weak-email-programs\">AI is raising expectations, but exposing weak email programs\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"\"><a href=\"#email-teams-are-under-pressure-and-the-role-is-changing-fast\">Email teams are under pressure, and the role is changing fast\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"\"><a href=\"#email-is-shifting-from-campaigns-to-relationships\">Email is shifting from campaigns to relationships\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"\"><a href=\"#email-design-still-isnt-where-it-should-be-email-accessibility-and-mobile-responsiveness\">Email design still\u00a0isn&#8217;t\u00a0where it should be\u00a0&#8211; Email accessibility and mobile responsiveness\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"\"><a href=\"#email-metrics-have-changed-its-about-revenue-now\">Email metrics have changed. It&#8217;s about revenue now<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"ai-is-now-controlling-the-inbox-not-just-helping-create-emails\">AI is now controlling the inbox, not just helping create emails&nbsp;<\/h2>\n<p>One of the biggest shifts in the Litmus report is where AI is having the most impact.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the focus has been on using AI to create emails faster. Writing copy, generating images, speeding up production.<\/p>\n<p>But the bigger change is happening inside the inbox. AI is now filtering, summarising, and prioritising emails before a user looks at them.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re now competing with how AI decides what\u2019s worth showing in the first place. Most email teams aren\u2019t building their campaign around that at this moment in time. The report highlights that fewer than a third of marketers have a strategy for AI-driven inboxes.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s something we\u2019ve been looking at closely at Spotler.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve already started exploring how AI inboxes are changing behaviour, from Gmail\u2019s AI overviews to how content is being summarised and surfaced.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to go deeper on this topic (which I highly recommend), we\u2019ve covered it here:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/blog\/the-ai-inbox\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The AI inbox and what it means for email marketers<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/blog\/gmail-ai-overviews\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How Gmail AI overviews are changing visibility<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/webinars-on-demand\/ai-in-your-inbox-blessing-or-curse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">And whether AI in the inbox is a blessing or a curse<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"ai-is-raising-expectations-but-exposing-weak-email-programs\">AI is raising expectations, but exposing weak email programs&nbsp;<\/h2>\n<p>AI is raising the bar for email marketing. But it\u2019s not fixing the underlying problems. If anything, it\u2019s exposing them. The Litmus report highlights ongoing challenges around data, integration, and proving ROI.<\/p>\n<p>If your data is incomplete, outdated, or poorly structured, AI doesn\u2019t improve your output. Instead, it scales the problem.<\/p>\n<p>AI is being positioned as the solution, but in reality, it\u2019s more of an amplifier. Good email programmes get better and weak ones get exposed.<\/p>\n<p>Without solid data foundations in place, AI won\u2019t be the silver bullet that makes your email marketing better. It just makes it faster. And faster isn\u2019t always better.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s also a more technical side to this that often gets overlooked.<\/p>\n<p>Email hygiene still matters. Things like <a href=\"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/guides\/the-ultimate-guide-to-inbox-placement\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-gb\/guides\/the-ultimate-guide-to-inbox-placement\">SPF, DKIM, and DMARC<\/a> aren\u2019t new, but they\u2019ve become more important as mailbox providers tighten their requirements and filtering gets more aggressive.<\/p>\n<p>If your setup isn\u2019t right, it doesn\u2019t matter how good your email is. It may never reach the inbox in the first place.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"email-teams-are-under-pressure-and-the-role-is-changing-fast\">Email teams are under pressure, and the role is changing fast&nbsp;<\/h2>\n<p>Now that AI is shaping our lives, email marketers need to adapt their skillset to keep up.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, it\u2019s worth acknowledging what email teams are dealing with right now. It\u2019s a huge paradigm shift and the pressure is building.<\/p>\n<p>Teams are being asked to do more, move faster, and deliver better results, often without any extra resource.<\/p>\n<p>This stat really sums up the change in production speed.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In 2024, 62% of teams took two weeks or more to produce a single email.<\/li>\n<li>Today, most are turning emails around in 1 to 3 days.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>AI has played a huge role in that. It\u2019s removed bottlenecks, sped up content creation, and made it easier to get emails out of the door.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s also changed what the role of an email marketer looks like.<\/p>\n<p>Not that long ago, different parts of the process were split across teams. Copywriters wrote, designers designed, and developers built.<\/p>\n<p>Now, in many cases, one person is doing all of it:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Planning the campaign<\/li>\n<li>Writing the copy<\/li>\n<li>Creating images<\/li>\n<li>Building the email<\/li>\n<li>Testing it<\/li>\n<li>Sending it<\/li>\n<li>Reporting on it<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And the consequence of this is that some of those specialist roles are starting to disappear from our industry.<\/p>\n<p>The report highlights that demand for dedicated email design roles is shrinking, with far fewer teams prioritising design and template development in hiring.<\/p>\n<p>AI can now generate layouts, suggest copy, and even optimise designs across devices. Those tasks used to sit with separate specialists.<\/p>\n<p>The job is changing fast. It\u2019s moving from \u201cI build emails\u201d, to \u201cI make sure this campaign delivers results.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That sounds like progress and in many ways it really is. But it also means the expectations are higher.<\/p>\n<p>Email marketers are no longer just responsible for getting an email out. You\u2019re responsible for how it performs, how to make it more personalised, and how it fits into the wider strategy that you now also need to deliver.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"email-is-shifting-from-campaigns-to-relationships\">Email is shifting from campaigns to relationships&nbsp;<\/h2>\n<p>As if the change in role wasn\u2019t enough to deal with, email marketers are also dealing with a shift in execution.<\/p>\n<p>Email is moving away from campaigns, and towards relationships. Promotional emails still drive the most revenue. That hasn\u2019t changed and is to be expected.<\/p>\n<p>What was interesting though is that the report shows a clear rise in newsletters, onboarding, and customer engagement emails. Newsletters alone are up 12% year on year.<\/p>\n<p>Litmus found a pattern between the teams seeing the highest ROI. They\u2019re investing in relationship-building emails.<\/p>\n<p>Things like:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Welcome journeys<\/li>\n<li>Lifecycle emails<\/li>\n<li>And behavioural triggers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Emails that respond to what a user is doing, not just what a brand wants to send.<\/p>\n<p>That shift is critical for the AI-driven inbox. Because if AI is deciding what gets surfaced, then relevance to the user becomes everything.<\/p>\n<p>This is where the idea of <em>&#8220;Return on Relationship<\/em>&#8221; comes in. Instead of asking<em> &#8220;did this email drive a sale?<\/em>&#8220;, the focus shifts to <em>&#8220;is this building trust over time?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Not every email is meant to convert immediately. Some are there to educate, onboard or just to stay relevant. Those are often the emails that lead to better long-term performance.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a shift in mindset, and not always an easy one to sell internally.<\/p>\n<p>Email is still seen as an instant channel for generating leads, revenue, and sales rather than a long-term relationship builder.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"email-design-still-isnt-where-it-should-be-email-accessibility-and-mobile-responsiveness\">Email design still\u00a0isn&#8217;t\u00a0where it should be\u00a0&#8211; Email accessibility and mobile responsiveness\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p>Email design is another area where things aren\u2019t quite where they should be.<\/p>\n<p>One stat that really stood out to me: only 47% of companies are designing fully responsive, mobile-friendly emails.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s surprising and annoying. Mobile email isn\u2019t new. It hasn\u2019t been for a long time. I\u2019ve been building mobile-friendly emails since the iPhone 3. That was back in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>So, seeing that more than half of companies still aren\u2019t doing this properly is frustrating.<\/p>\n<p>At this point, it shouldn\u2019t be something we\u2019re still getting wrong. Especially with modern email builders like Spotler&#8217;s, which has an excellent and easy-to-use mobile editing functionality allowing you to adapt layouts, styles and padding separately from the desktop design.<\/p>\n<p>Accessibility follows a similar pattern.<\/p>\n<p>The report shows that while teams are picking up individual tactics, far fewer are following proper standards like WCAG.<\/p>\n<p>It ends up being a bit piecemeal. A few improvements here and there, but not something that\u2019s properly built into the process. Small companies with fewer than 10 employees are nearly 3x more likely to skip accessibility entirely. That\u2019s disappointing.<\/p>\n<p>The same applies to things like dark mode. If it\u2019s not considered early, it shows up badly in the inbox.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve looked at this a lot at Spotler, from <a href=\"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/blog\/email-accessibility-for-humans-and-ai-explained\">accessibility for both humans and AI<\/a>, to <a href=\"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/blog\/how-to-build-emails-that-work-in-dark-mode\">building emails that work well in dark mode<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Because in the end, it all comes back to the same thing. Your emails should be built around what\u2019s right for your customers, not what\u2019s easiest to get out the door.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not all bad news though, Advanced AI adopters are closing this gap \u2013 they are 54% more likely to follow WCAG.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"email-metrics-have-changed-its-about-revenue-now\">Email metrics have changed. It&#8217;s about revenue now<\/h2>\n<p>The final shift is in how success is measured. And this isn&#8217;t new. We&#8217;ve been saying for years that opens and clicks are metrics that do not paint the full picture of success.<\/p>\n<p>But what\u2019s changed is how seriously that\u2019s now being taken. Email teams don\u2019t really get away with reporting on engagement anymore.<\/p>\n<p>The expectation now is much more direct. What did this campaign drive?<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Revenue<\/li>\n<li>Pipeline<\/li>\n<li>Demo requests<\/li>\n<li>Conversions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That\u2019s the conversation email marketers are now having.<\/p>\n<p>And it links back to the pressure email teams are under. When you\u2019re being asked to do more, move faster, and prove impact, surface-level metrics aren\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n<p>You need to show how email is contributing to the business. Not just how people interacted with it.<\/p>\n<p>The Litmus State of Email Report reflects that shift. There\u2019s more focus on revenue attribution, multi-channel reporting, and understanding email\u2019s role across the full customer journey.<\/p>\n<p>But at the same time, there\u2019s also a growing recognition that not every email is meant to convert immediately. That\u2019s where the idea of \u201cReturn on Relationship\u201d comes in.<\/p>\n<p>Some emails are there to build trust, stay relevant, and keep your brand top of mind. And both matter. Email marketers need to create campaigns of both types which dovetail perfectly into each other.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"adapting-to-what-comes-next\">Adapting to&nbsp;what&nbsp;comes&nbsp;next&nbsp;<\/h2>\n<p>The inbox has changed, but the fundamentals\u00a0haven&#8217;t.\u00a0You&#8217;re\u00a0still trying to reach a real person, in a crowded space, with something worth their time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The difference now is that expectations are higher, the tools are more powerful, and the margin for getting it wrong is smaller.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And if the last 12 months are anything to go by, 2026\u00a0is going to be another year of\u00a0big\u00a0change\u00a0and adaptation\u00a0for the email industry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"key-stats-from-the-report\">Key stats&nbsp;from the report&nbsp;<\/h2>\n<p>If you just want the highlights, these are the numbers that stood out:<\/p>\n<p><strong>AI adoption and impact<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>34% of teams<\/strong> are using AI regularly across multiple areas<\/li>\n<li><strong>28%<\/strong> are still in early-stage or limited use<\/li>\n<li>Only <strong>5%<\/strong> report advanced, fully integrated AI usage<\/li>\n<li><strong>30% of UK companies<\/strong> claim advanced AI adoption, ahead of other regions<\/li>\n<li><strong>33%<\/strong> of teams expect <strong>50\u201375% of their email operations<\/strong> to be AI-driven by the end of 2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Speed, pressure, and production<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>76%<\/strong> of marketers produce and send emails within 3 days<\/li>\n<li>In <strong>2024, 62%<\/strong> of teams took two weeks or more to send a single email<\/li>\n<li>Only <strong>47%<\/strong> of companies are designing fully responsive, mobile-friendly emails<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Email strategy and priorities<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Top priority: increasing engagement and click-through rates (43.8%)<\/li>\n<li>Followed by:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Strengthening compliance (39.6%)<\/li>\n<li>Expanding AI usage (37.5%)<\/li>\n<li>Enhancing automation and workflows (38%) (Page 35)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Send frequency<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>36% of companies<\/strong> send emails several times per week<\/li>\n<li><strong>23%<\/strong> send emails daily<\/li>\n<li>The majority of brands are in the inbox multiple times per week or more<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Performance and ROI<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Advanced AI adopters are <strong>75% more likely<\/strong> to achieve ROI above 45:1<\/li>\n<li>Most programs see:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>30\u201340%<\/strong> open rates<\/li>\n<li><strong>3\u20135%<\/strong> click-through rates<\/li>\n<li><strong>3\u20134%<\/strong> conversion rates<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Accessibility and experience gaps<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Only <strong>26% of teams<\/strong> follow WCAG accessibility standards<\/li>\n<li><strong>1 in 6 people<\/strong> globally live with a disability<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A practical take on the Litmus 2026 report, covering AI, email strategy, team pressure, and what\u2019s driving results now. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":246366,"template":"","cat_industry":[1943,1459],"cat_topic":[1001],"class_list":["post-246371","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cat_industry-b2b-en-de","cat_industry-b2c-en-de","cat_topic-email-marketing-en-de"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/246371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/246371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246373,"href":"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/246371\/revisions\/246373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cat_industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cat_industry?post=246371"},{"taxonomy":"cat_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spotler.com\/en-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cat_topic?post=246371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}